New detection device for artery disease arrives in Manatee

Manatee County resident Bruce Bragg is a lifelong athlete, coach of two local lacrosse clubs and appears to be far younger than his 49 years.

Like most people in their 40s, Bragg doesn’t think he has atherosclerosis, which is hardening of the arteries, which can lead to heart attack or stroke.

But last Tuesday, Bragg went along with his wife, Bradenton’s Reyna Bragg, M.D., and her officemate, Bradenton’s Eldridge E. McCormick, M.D., as they visited Dr. Christopher Davis’ cardiology practice at 2816 Manatee Ave. W., in Bradenton, to help Davis’ staff learn how to use a brand new machine that can detect extremely early signs of atherosclerosis.

The machine is called a Soterogram, the name is from the Greek for “survival,” and, in February, McCormick, who has practiced general medicine in Bradenton for 37 years, became the first Manatee County doctor to get one.

In March, the second machine went to Dr. Cristobal Cortes, 5712 21st Ave. W., Bradenton.

Since Bragg was one of the few non-medical personnel in Davis’ office on April 18 he volunteered to be the first test subject for Davis’ crew.

“I’m adopted but I found my biological mom 15 years ago and I did find out my uncle and some other people had died of a heart attack around the mid-60s,” Bragg said before the test. “I’m getting close to that age. But I have been an athlete pretty much all my life and have taken care of myself the best way I know how. My blood pressure is 120 over 80 and I have very low cholesterol.”

Asked how he thought he would do on the test, Bragg said, “I think I will do great. I am clear of all the risk factors.”

Bragg was referring to the six major risk factors for hardening of the arteries, including smoking, being obese, having uncontrolled high blood pressure and diabetes, a high lipid count and not regularly doing aerobic exercise.

After Bragg stripped down to his shorts and lay on a table, Mandy Marulanda, Dr. Davis’ registered medical assistant, was shown by McCormick, along with representatives of Soterograms’ manufacturer, Soteria Medical LLC, how to connect tubes from the blood pressure-like cuffs she placed on Bragg’s calves, thighs and arms to a computer-like device called a Soteria Cardiac Platform.

Bruce Bragg, who is the lacrosse coach at Manatee Lacrosse Club, a high school team, and the Monsters Lacrosse Academy in Premier Sports Camp in Lakewood Ranch, said he felt no pain and just a sensation over his limbs like getting a blood pressure check as the machine took readings from the cuffs.

When the test was completed 20 minutes later, Soteria distributor Scott MacBeth said the computer had analyzed the data already and he reported: “Mr. Bragg’s Soterogram came out very, very good. It came out to show he has lost less than nine percent of his artery elasticity.”

The Soterogram also reported that Bruce Bragg’s odds of a heart attack or stroke were about seven percent over the next 10 years.

“That’s about as good as it gets,” MacBeth said.

Bruce Bragg smiled.

“That’s wonderful,” he beamed.

How does the machine work?

While Bragg was lucky, McCormick said that has performed 50 Soterogram tests on his patients since he got the machine in February and 80 percent required follow up care because their test came back showing significant loss of arterial elasticity.

When the test comes back positive — a 50 percent loss of elasticity would be critical, for instance — McCormick can put the patient on a treatment plan that involves reducing the six previously mentioned risk factors.

In fact, tackling the six risk factors is exactly what everyone should do to keep their arteries clear, said Dr. Jeffrey K. Raines, the inventor of the Soterogram, who drove from his home in Miami to Bradenton on April 18 to assist in the installation of Davis’ machine.

Raines, a mechanical engineer with a degree from MIT and a Harvard Medical School-trained surgeon, is the inventor of the Soterogram and founder and chief executive officer of the machine’s manufacturer, Soteria Medical, LLC.

Like a proud father, Raines tries to attend every placement of a new machine.

“The Soterogram measures very accurately how stiff the arterial wall is,” Raines said. “The engineering term for that is compliance, which is change in volume divided by change in internal pressure.”

The blood pressure cuffs put on Bragg’s arm measure pressure but the ones on his calf and thigh measure volume change, Raines said.

“That volume change that we measure very accurately and the pressure change that we measure very accurately is put together to determine elasticity,” Raines said. “When elasticity is reduced we know that correlates to atherosclerosis.”

“As atherosclerosis develops in the arterial wall, what happens is the artery itself becomes stiffer,” Raines added. “A balloon is very elastic. You change the pressure in a balloon and it changes its volume a great deal. A steel pipe, on the other hand, when you change the pressure inside the amount of volume expansion is very low. In fact, that’s what is happening with hardening of the arteries. It starts out with an artery acting sort of like a balloon with a lot of elasticity but as the disease takes its toll it becomes more like a steel pipe.”

Approved by the Federal Drug Administration in 2014, the Soterogram burst on the scene in doctors’ offices in Raines hometown of Miami and now has worked its way to the Manatee and Sarasota area.

Since the machine’s rep, MacBeth, is from Bradenton, he began knocking on doors in his hometown, he said.

Raines hopes the machine, which he installs for free for doctors who charge patients or insurance roughly $200, will eventually catch on nationwide.

McCormick wasn’t totally sure about the machine when MacBeth pitched the idea to him, but he is now, he said.

“It all makes sense,” McCormick said. “The technique that they use, the studies and the preparations they went through, it all is very logical and reasonable.”

This story was originally published April 24, 2017 at 4:51 PM with the headline "New detection device for artery disease arrives in Manatee."